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Pan-Seared Pork Chops

Pan-Seared Pork Chops with an herb butter sauce is a quick and easy dinner you can have on the table in less than 30 minutes!

Disclosure: Life Tastes Good is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. Please note: This post may contain affiliate links. I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, to help with blog expenses when you make a purchase through an affiliate link. Thank you so much for your support!With a few tips you can have these fork tender, moist, and delicious pork chops on the table in no time! The herb butter sauce mixes up easily in the same skillet while the pork chops are resting. Seriously, y'all, these pork chops are so flavorful and they melt in your mouth like buttah!Growing up my mom would make Shake n' Bake pork chops, and I really dreaded it when I saw pork chops on the table. UGH! I did not like pork chops at all! Anyone else grow up to be pork chop haters? Please don't misunderstand, my mom is a good cook. It wasn't anything she was doing wrong, really. She was following the safe cooking guidelines for pork at that time. Those guidelines were WAY OFF, so home cooks all over the place were overcooking pork chops. This resulted in a dry, tasteless, tough piece of yuck! Now, should I tell you how I really feel? haha Not too long ago, the safe cooking temp for pork was lowered and now everyone can enjoy restaurant quality pork chops at home! It's true!! Pork chops are super easy to make, and with a few tips you can start enjoying pork again :) It might even become your favorite protein. It did for me! I LOVE pork!
First thing you need to do is look at your meat thermometer. If it says to cook pork to 160° F. or more - IGNORE IT!! or better yet, throw it out and get an instant-read thermometer
and just remember that you cook pork to 140° F. and then let it rest about 10 minutes.Pork should be slightly pink inside. This is important, so I'll say it again. Pork should be slightly pink inside!! It's okay and perfectly safe to eat. Don't just take my word for it, check out the USDA official announcement from May of 2011.

Now that we have that out of the way here's the recipe for these Pan-Seared Pork Chops with an herb butter sauce. Definitely give these a try and let me know what you think.

Instructions

Early in the day or the night before, season each of the pork chops with 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper on BOTH sides of the chop. Season each chop in this manner. Place in the fridge. Remove the pork chops from the fridge an hour or two before you are ready to cook them. This will allow them to come to room temperature for more even cooking.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 450° F and heat a large cast-iron skillet
over mid-high heat. Allow the skillet to heat up while you get the ingredients ready for the herb butter sauce. Chop the shallots and herbs, measure the wine and set aside. Note: You can use a stainless steel skillet as long as it is oven safe.

When the skillet is nice and hot, add 2 tablespoons butter. Watch out for the steam! The butter will melt and brown almost immediately. Use a wooden spoon to spread it around if needed. Add the pork chops and sear quickly. Because there is sugar on the pork chops and we are working with a pretty hot pan, the pork chops will sear quickly, so keep an eye on them. You'll only want to leave them for about 30 seconds to a minute each side, but that will vary depending on how hot your pan is. You want to get a nice crispy crust on the outside without burning the chops. Once the one side is nicely seared, turn it over and sear the other side. Be careful not to burn them! NOTE: If you have to sear longer than a minute each side to get that nice crispy outside, be sure to check the temp with an instant-read thermometer before putting in the oven. If it reads 140°F they are done and you'll want to skip to step #5.

When the chops are nicely seared on both sides, remove them from the heat and put the skillet right into the oven. Cook for about 5 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 140°F. Use an instant-read thermometer
to check the temp. TIP: It is better to slightly under cook the pork than to over cook it. If you slice it and find it is under cooked you can always put it under the broiler to finish it up if needed.

When the pork reaches 140°F, remove it from the skillet to a cutting board to rest for at least 10 minutes. While the pork is resting, work on the herb butter sauce.

In the same skillet, over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter (if needed - if there is enough fat in the skillet you can use that in place of the butter) and add the chopped shallots. Cook, stirring, until the shallots begin to soften. This should just be a couple minutes. Then add 1/4 cup wine and allow it to reduce by half, about 1-2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan. This is a tasty way to 'scrub' those stuck on bits. They add flavor to the sauce, and you'll be happy you scraped them up when you clean the skillet! Reduce heat to mid-low and add the fresh herbs with 1 tablespoon butter. The butter gives the sauce a delicious richness, so don't skip it this time! Allow the butter to melt into the sauce. Stir to combine. Give it a taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Remove from heat and add the pork chops back into the skillet, turning to cover in the herb butter sauce. Serve with the sauce and enjoy!

Hi Lidia, yes, if pork isn't slightly pink inside, it is overcooked. Scroll up to the following paragraph and look for the link to the USDA guidelines for cooking pork.

Look for this paragraph in my post: Pork should be slightly pink inside. This is important, so I'll say it again. Pork should be slightly pink inside!! It's okay and perfectly safe to eat. Don't just take my word for it, check out the USDA official announcement from May of 2011.

...For years the USDA told us the safe cooking temp for pork was 160°F, but in 2011, they FINALLY updated those recommendations and lowered the safe cooking temp. I hope that helps ~Marion

I just wanted to let you know that I made this recipe last night and it was fantastic! My husband, who hates pork because it is normally too dry, loved it as well. It was soooo moist and juicy, and the flavor was delicious. All my life I always thought you had to cook pork for a long time or it was not safe to eat, so I was afraid to try this recipe. Now I know how wrong I was. I will use this recipe every time I make pork from now on. TFS!

Amy, I am so happy you like it! I wish you could see the huge smile on my face. I'm almost in tears from your kind words. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how much you enjoyed the recipe. You absolutely made my day!! Thank you!!

I like it! Caveat - syrup burns easy so be sparing and maybe save a bit to brush on a minute or two before done. Additional thought, maple is a great flavor but easy does it. Still "testing"; end of report... for now.

I made this recipe several weeks ago, minus the sugar/salt/pepper prep, as I failed to re-read the instructions earlier & didn't have a backup dinner planned. Since I skipped that part, my chops took longer to brown. Luckily for us, your instructions covered/specified what to do if they cooked all the way during the browning step or I might not have thought to check the temp prior to putting them into b the oven. Not only did you provide a SUPER YUMMY recipe, you also saved dinner! I also used chicken stock instead of the wine, as I don't like the taste of anything cooked in any kind of alcoholic beverage. Weird, I know! These we so good, that I suspect my pork chop hating son will like them. He wasn't home last time, but we're having them again tonight, so I'm hoping he'll be around to try them. Who knows, maybe we can have pork chops when he is home for dinner on occasion....

Thank you so much for visiting and sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated, so I don't miss anything. I like to read each and every one! Please understand I am not able to allow comments with links. Thanks! I hope it's a great day!! ~Marion

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